1Ia am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of God’s wrath.
1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath;
2He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness instead of light.
2He has led me and has made me walk in darkness, and not light;
3Indeed, He keeps turning His hand
against me all day long.
3surely He turns back against me; He turns over His hand all the day.
4He has worn away my flesh and skin;
He has shattered my bones.
4He has worn out my flesh and my skin; he has broken my bones.
5He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
5He has built up against me and surrounded me with bitterness and weariness;
6He has made me dwell in darkness
like those dead for ages.
6in dark places He has settled me, like the dead of old.
7He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
He has weighed me down with chains.
7He has put a hedge around me, so that I cannot get out; He has made heavy my chain of bronze;
8Even when I cry out and plead for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
8even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.
9He has barred my ways with cut stones;
He has made my paths crooked.
9He has blocked off my ways with cut stone, my paths He has made crooked.
10He is a bear lying in wait,
a lion hiding in ambush.
10A bear lying in ambush He is to me, a lion in hiding places;
11He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces;
He left me without help.
11my ways He has turned aside, and has torn me apart; He has set me as a desolation.
12He bent His bow
and set me as the target for His arrow.
12He has bent His bow and stood me up as the target for an arrow.
13He pierced my kidneys
with His arrows.
13He has brought into my kidneys the sons of His quiver;
14I am a laughingstock to all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
14I have become a laughingstock to all my people, their taunt all the day.
15He has filled me with bitterness;
He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
15He has filled me with bitterness; He has made me drink wormwood.
16He has ground my teeth with gravel
and trampled me in the dust.
16And He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has covered me with ashes.
17My soul has been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
17My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten good,
18So I say, “My strength has perished,
along with my hope from the LORD.”
18and I say, “My strength has perished, and also my hope from YHWH!”
19Remember my affliction and wandering,
the wormwood and the gall.
19Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall!
20Surely my soul remembers
and is humbled within me.
20It remembers well and sinks—My soul within me.
21Yet I call this to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
21This I turn to my mind; upon thus I have hope.
22Because of the loving devotiona of the LORD we are not consumed,
for His mercies never fail.
22Because of the loving devotion of YHWH we are not consumed, for His mercies are not finished.
23They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness!
23They are new in the mornings—great is Your faithfulness!
24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”
24“My portion is YHWH,” says my soul, “Upon thus do I hope in Him.”
25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.
25Good is YHWH to those waiting for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
26It is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
26And it is good to wait and be silent for the salvation of YHWH;
27It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is still young.
27it is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.
28Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it upon him.
28Let him sit alone and be silent when it is laid upon him.
29Let him bury his face in the dust—
perhaps there is still hope.
29Let him put in the dust his mouth; perhaps there is hope!
30Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him;
let him be filled with reproach.
30Let him give his cheek to the one striking him; let him be filled with reproach!
31For the Lord will not
cast us off forever.
31For the Lord will not reject us forever;
32Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion
according to His abundant loving devotion.
32for though He may bring grief, He will show compassion according to the abundance of His loving devotion;
33For He does not willingly afflict
or grieve the sons of men.
33for he has not afflicted with His heart or grieved the sons of man.
34To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the land,
34To crush under one’s feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35to deny a man justice
before the Most High,
35to stretch aside justice for a man before the face of the Most High,
36to subvert a man in his lawsuit—
of these the Lord does not approve.
36to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.
37Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has ordained it?
37Who is this having spoken, and it came to pass, if the Lord did not command it?
38Do not both adversity and good
come from the mouth of the Most High?
38From the mouth of the Most High does not come forth the bad and the good?
39Why should any mortal man complain,
in view of his sins?
39Why should complain a living man, a man for his sins?
40Let us examine and test our ways,
and turn back to the LORD.
40Let us search out our ways, and let us seek, and turn back to YHWH!
41Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
41Let us lift our heart with our hands to God in the heavens:
42“We have sinned and rebelled;
You have not forgiven.”
42“We have transgressed and we have rebelled; You have not forgiven.”
43You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;
You have killed without pity.
43You have covered in anger and pursued us; You have killed; You have not pitied.
44You have covered Yourself with a cloud
that no prayer can pass through.
44You have covered Yourself with a cloud, from passing through a prayer.
45You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.
45You have made us offscouring and refuse in the midst of the nations.
46All our enemies
open their mouths against us.
46They have opened their mouths against us—all our enemies;
47Panic and pitfall have come upon us—
devastation and destruction.
47terror and pitfall have come upon us, desolation and destruction!
48Streams of tears flow from my eyes
over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
48Streams of water run down my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people!
49My eyes overflow unceasingly,
without relief,
49My eye pours forth, and it does not cease—without numbing—
50until the LORD
looks down from heaven and sees.
50until YHWH looks down and sees from the heavens!
51My eyes bring grief to my soul
because of all the daughters of my city.
51My eye bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
52Without cause my enemies
hunted me like a bird.
52My enemies have hunted me relentlessly like a bird, without cause;
53They dropped me alive into a pit
and cast stones upon me.
53They have cut off my life in the pit, and they threw stones at me;
54The waters flowed over my head,
and I thought I was going to die.
54the waters flowed over my head; I said I have been cut off!
55I called on Your name, O LORD,
out of the depths of the Pit.
55I called on Your name, O YHWH, out of the depths of the Pit,
56You heard my plea:
“Do not ignore my cry for relief.”
56You heard my voice: “Do not hide Your ear from my sighing, from my cry!”
57You drew near when I called on You;
You said, “Do not be afraid.”
57You drew near on the day I called you, you said, “Do not fear!”
58You defend my cause, O Lord;
You redeem my life.
58You have pleaded, O Lord, the pleadings of my soul; You have redeemed my life!
59You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me;
vindicate my cause!
59You have seen, O YHWH, the wrong done to me; vindicate my cause!
60You have seen all their malice,
all their plots against me.
60You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.
61O LORD, You have heard their insults,
all their plots against me—
61You have heard their taunt, O YHWH, all their plots against me,
62the slander and murmuring of my assailants
62the lips of my assailants and their murmuring against me all the day,
63When they sit and when they rise,
see how they mock me in song.
63their sitting down, and their rising up—Look! I am their mocking song.
64You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,
according to the work of their hands.
64May You repay to them a recompense, O YHWH, according to the work of their hands!
65Put a veil of anguish over their hearts;
may Your curse be upon them!
65May You give to them a covering for the heart—Your curse be upon them!
66You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them
from under Your heavens, O LORD.
66May You pursue them in Your anger and destroy them from under the heavens, O YHWH!